Shotguns in their Roses
by speckledsparrow
Summary: Germany and Japan knew something was wrong with the Italy brothers, but they just couldn't put their fingers on it. Spain was confused on why Lovi suddenly treated his old gun like it was the Holy Grail. France was worried about Feli and his newfound love of knives. America saw something that he shouldn't have. But first, they should really learn how to read Italian. (Not Mafia AU)
1. Warning Bells Sound in Berlin

Germany wasn't quite sure when he first realized something had changed about the two from before. It seemed that he had just woken up one morning and they were... different.

They were just suddenly... less naive. Less cowardly. Less trusting. Less docile. Less of everything he had grown to expect from the brothers.

* * *

_"Italy, you're late! And where's Romano, isn't he supposed joining us today." Germany barked at the newly-arrived brunette. Even after WW2, the trio sometimes got together to relive this one happy part of the horrible war._

_Italy looked mildly sheepish, which was an oddity on its own (I mean when was the last time he looked like he knew he did something wrong), and rubbed the back of his head. "Ve, mi dispiace Germany. Romano had to finish up an important... project that came up." He said, being rather vague, but Germany accepted the excuse._

_"Fine. But drop and give me 20, maybe eventually you'll get it into your head that you need to be punctual." He ordered, and proceeded to physically have to push the smaller man down and hold his head to make sure Italy didn't run._

_A half hour later Italy and Japan finished counting off and the three began the first excercise, a light jog around the block, nothing extreme. Surprisingly enough, the Italian was actually keeping up with the other two. Germany just figured that he had more coffee then usual today._

_They paused for a quick water break his patio, when Germany noticed an odd thing about Italy. Seemingly overnight, he had developed a light dusting of freckles. No, that's impossible. He thought, and, much to Italy's confusion (and joy), leaned in closer to his face to get a better look._

_His face, on closer inspection, did not in fact have freckles, but had a light splattering of red droplets on his face._

_Germany back peddled quickly (he nearly ran off the porch but no one needed to know that) and as he continued to stare at Italy, he noticed more and more small details._

_Smudges on his hands that looked like they came from gunpowder. A small, still bleeding cut on collar bone. A rip on the hem of his pants. His hair was messier then normal. A few fresh bruises scattered around the parts of his body exposed by his slightly baggy sweat pants and tank top._

_It looked like he had been in a fight._

_And he had been on the winning side._

_"Italy, what where you doing with Romano with before you came here?" Germany questioned, half wondering if he was hallucinating. "Oh, I was just helping him make some red sauce, ve." Italy replied innocently, giving a sweet smile._

_But for some reason, for a second, the happy-go-lucky country's eyes flashed with malice and his grin seemed as dark as night. And then it was normal again._

_Germany shook it off as seeing things and ushered Japan, who had disappeared as soon as Germany leaned towards the auburn haired country, and Italy back to training. After all, the likelihood of Italy having any form of bloodlust was about as good a chance as France still being a virgin._

_But, the small seed of suspicion had already taken root._

* * *

_**Hokay! I finally got around to moving this story from Wattpad, and I'll be adding another chapter maybe about once a week. Godspeed, loves!**_

_**~Sparrow**_


	2. Gongs Ring in Tokyo

Japan had sensed that something was wrong with Veneziano-kun and Romano-kun long before Germany did. It wasn't the new look in their eye, their new attitudes, or even their new style of dressing (a dark red shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black suspenders, loose white tie, black fedora, dark skinny jeans, and brown leather dress shoes for Veneziano-kun and a dark green dress shirt, loose dark red tie, black vest, black and grey pinstriped fedora, black dress pants, and black leather dress shoes for Romano-kun. At least those seemed to be their favored outfits). No, it was a simple mistake on his part that alerted him that something was wrong.

* * *

_The day had started out fairly simply. Japan was going over to Veneziano-kun and Romano-kun's house for a quite visit, having forgotten his manga there the day before. He had gone in, gotten his manga, and said hello to both of them when it had gotten weird._

_All of the sudden Romano-kun's phone started playing and recording of someone (privetly, he thought it sounded like Veneziano-kun yelling at him to pick up the phone up), and Veneziano-kun immediately pulled Japan outside, apparently suddenly feeling the burning need to show him around their small garden. As one of his hosts speed-walked him away, Japan fluttering like paper behind him as he was pulled by the arm, he could hear Romano-kun yelling at someone in Italian._

_And they did in fact walk around for a few minutes (mostly consisting of Veneziano-kun telling him some story about the Tiber River as they stood in front of a fountain apparently filled with the Tiber's water) until Romano-kun called Veneziano-kun inside for a moment. He excused himself and ran in, and a second later he heard them both yelling in Italian at someone who Japan assumed to have been placed on speaker phone, as they occasionally tried to interject and apparently made things worse since the brothers just yelled louder._

_Japan stood there awkwardly for a second before something caught his interest. A lovely archway cut through the hedge, which he assumed led into the front lawn as he could vaguely see the path he had walked on to get to their door. Next to the archway, there was a sign with the words "Avvertimento idiota fratello: Miniera terrestri avanti" written in cursive. Japan brushed it off as an odd decoration, and strolled right through._

_He made it approximately three steps before he was blown over fifty feet into the air. Eventually, he landed in a tree and the brothers helped him down after they had run outside to check the noise._

_With the combined effort from the three of them, they found Japan's manga scattered around the property. They were burnt to a crisp._

_That day Japan learned three things._

_One, avvertimento idiota fratello: miniera terrestri avanti meant warning idiot brother: land mines ahead._

_Two, eyebrows take forever to regrow._

_And three? These weren't the same weak idiotic cowards who couldn't throw a grenade right as they where a few months before._

* * *

**_Sorry for le wait, I caught a hell-cold and had to catch up on school work. I know it's still "next week", it's just later then I wanted to update._**

**_~Sparrow_**


	3. Alarms Start in Madrid

Spain loved his little tomato, he really did.

He could put up with his cursing, his abuse, his laziness, and his clumsiness. But, even Spain had a limit.

And that limit had definitely been reached by Romano's new obsession.

* * *

_One day, Spain had decided to visit his old charges house, just to see how he was doing._

_Clad in a sun hat, a, shall we say, loud Hawaiian shirt, and kaki shorts, he walked up the winding pathway to the front door, taking extra caution to say on the path after hearing about what had happened to Japan a few months before._

_His eyebrows still weren't completely back grown yet._

_Spain raised his fist to knock on the door, but a sudden, strong gust of wind blew from behind him and the door simply blew open on its own. "Huh." He muttered, a bit confused on why the door apparently wasn't just unlocked, but not even closed properly. Suddenly, his eyes went wide._

_What if the door was partially open like this because Russia had broken into the Italies house to force them to become one? What if England's pirate personality suddenly made a totally random and unexpected return and for some reason decided to target Lovi? What if, he shuttered, America's alien "friend" Tony finally reviled his true purpose for coming to Earth and wanted Lovi as a test subject?!_

_Those thoughts gave the man strength and with a loud cry of "Don't worry Lovi! I'll save you from the Russian pirate alien!", charged into the house._

_It seemed to be empty, but one could never tell. Spain immediately started running into every room in site, until he made it into a certain Southern Italians bedroom._

_Only to be met with a very, very shiny gun. A gun that was held by a hand. A hand that was part of an arm. And arm that was attached to very angry Romano._

_Spain froze. Why was his little tomato pointing a loaded gun at him? He immediately checked his memory for anything that he could have recently done to piss him off._

_Suddenly, Lovi's tense body relaxed and he lowered his arm as he recognized the intruder._

_"Oi, tomato bastard, why're you in my damn house?!" The smaller nation demanded. "You almost made me get your stupid blood all over Angelo, chiggii." Spain assumed that " Angelo" was his gun, as that was the only murder weapon around._

_That he could see, that is._

_"Oh, I just wanted to drop in a quick visit Lovi~. The door was already open! You know that isn't safe to do that, what if a creepy stalker got in? Hey, is that your old Beretta Model 1935? I haven't seen one in years! Can I see that for a second?!" He cut off his rambling to make a grab for the gun. Romano hissed a bit and backtracked quickly, holding the gun in a way that reminded Spain of Golemn holding the Precious from that Lord of the Things... yep, he's fairly sure that's what it's called._

_"Don't touch my bambini." The other brunette growled out. Spain put his hands up in surrender. "Si, si. Hey, do you want to go out for some lunch or something?" He asked, trying to change the subject before his former lackey shot him, or worse._

_Romano reluctantly agreed, but the entire time they were out he almost obsessively was cleaning his already quite shiny gun._

_Spain found that strange for quite a few reasons. Of course one was the obvious 'who in their right mind cleans deadly weapons in public thing', but another was that the nation couldn't remember the last time the younger had taken an interest in weapons so religiously. He knew there was a last time, just not when._

_Of course, he brushed it off and they had an... interesting lunch together, but as he walked away from the house, there was a sign he hadn't noticed coming in right next to the road with two different languages on it._

_It said 日本は、地雷があることを覚えている in what he could recognize in Japanese, though all he could translate was "Japan" at the beginning. Under that was avvertimento idiota fratello: miniera terrestri avanti in what he assumed to be Italian._

_The country shrugged and continued on, when his sun hat blew off and landed on the lawn. Spain sighed and went to retrieve it when, just like Japan had, was blown 50-ish ft in the air._

_He later found his hat in perfect condition, sitting in that exact same spot the lawn._

* * *

**_Hokay, got this one out (finally). And to Kita-Minami-Nihon-Itaria (long name to type, wow) it's not related to the 2p!s either. It's just a headcanon of mine that whats going on in a country directly affects the personification(s). In this case, somewhere in time the Mafia is gaining power so the brothers are becoming more like mafiasce (think I spelt that right. Sorry if I messed up the plural. Italians hard~). And omfg, thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and follows! It honestly makes me so happy that people are __actually reading this. _**

**_~Sparrow _**


	4. Canon Shots Fire over Paris

Now France can't exactly say that he wasn't pleased about the Italy brothers change. Their cloths where much more tasteful now, and their way of bringing home ladies had definitely improved.

But, there was one thing that he absolutely disapproved of: Italy's "bambini's".

Quite frankly, they scared the living merde out of him, and while the brunette never showed them to his "guests", he was more than willing to play show-and-tell whenever a male nation (France, America, Germany, Japan, Spain, ect.) dropped by.

In fact, he could still remember the first (and unfortunately not the last) time he saw them...

* * *

_It was a beautiful spring day, the warm Italian sun shining down on upon two well-dressed nations strolling along a Venetian canal as a cool northern breeze made it just the right temperature._

* * *

_"Ve, grazie for coming, big brother France-is." The brunette said to the blond beside him, quickly correcting himself on the name when he remembered they where in public._

_"It's no problem It-Feliciano. You know I always love to see your new works." So I can see if they'd look as charmant as I think they will in my museums. France replied, adding the last part in his head._

_The day before, Italy had called him about a wonderful new collection he acquired and had invited him to come see it. Assuming that it was a collection of paintings of sculptures as usual he had accepted the invitation as soon as it was offered. As wonderful as the art from the Italian Renaissance was, he thought that people would like to see new things. And seeing how the other nation had "let" him "borrow" his art before, this was the perfect opportunity for_ him.

_The nations where currently headed towards Italy's private home in his favorite city, which was obviously Venice (his reasoning was that it didn't make sense for him to abandon the place he was originally the personification of, especially since he was passing on the title of North Italy to Tuscany or someone in a few years. France honestly didn't understand the Italy family). His brother had his own private home in he believed to be Naples, but he wasn't sure._

_They strolled along the waterways for a few more minutes before they turned off into one of the numerous alley ways and came upon spring green two story house. "This is it I presume?" France asked his companion._

_"Sì." Italy replied, and walked up the brick steps. After he unlocked the door, he invited the physically older man inside._

_France was shocked at how homey the living room, and entrance room, felt. It was a small-ish room, the sweet and spicy scent of drying herbs in the air, he presumed the smell came from the kitchen. The walls were a light brownish red with the dark beige silloettes of vines painted along the celing. There was a comfortable looking leather couch along the wall opposite to a TV, a house plant on the window cil, two wicker rocking chairs with deep red cushions forming a triangle with the couch, and a cherry wood coffee table in the middle of the couch and chairs. He could also hear traditional Italian music playing from somewhere in the room._

_"Wait here for a few moments big brother France, and I'll get my collection. Do you want some biscotti and coffee, ve?" The brunette nation offered, leading him to the couch. "Oui, merci Italy." France replied._

_Italy then disappeared through one of the doors, and the blonde continued to look around the room...was that a gun in the plant?!_

_But he didn't have time to further explore that, as Italy had reappeared back in the room balancing a steaming cup of strong Italian coffee, a few chocolate biscotti on a plate, and a beautiful mother-of-pearl and laurel wood box._

_"Let me help you with that, amour." France offered to the smaller nation. "No, no. It's fine. One gets used to carrying multiple things when you're painting, ve." Italy replied, skillfully setting down the cup and plate on the table in front of his guest with one hand, barely even disturbing the coffee._

_"Ok, let us see this beautiful collection of yours then." He offered after taking a few bites of biscotti. "Sì! I always love sharing my bambini with others." His host said happily. Then, with a flourish, Italy opened the latch on the box._

_And there, laid out on the boxes black velvet lining, where a set of three simple silver throwing knives with reddish-brown leather handles, one lovely bronze dagger with opals inlaid in the handle, a thin steel dagger with a black leather grip and veins of amber weaving designs in the grip, 15 small silver knives that looked like they could be hidden anywhere without notice, and a downright deadly looking steel knife with a simple black handle._

_"These are my newest collection, ve. Well, not exactly new since I've had them for a little over a year now, but their still the newest out of all my collections. I call the throwing knives Le Terzine , the bronze dagger Danza del Sole, the steel and amber dagger Crepuscolo, my little silver knives L'esercito Invisibile, and the steel knife Aiutante Notte." Italy declared fondly, running his hands over the blades as he said their names._

_France had suddenly lost his appetite._

* * *

_**Translations**_

_**Le Terzine - The Triplets**_

_**Danza del Sole - Sun Dance**_

_**Crepuscolo - Dusk**_

_**L'esercito Invisibile - The Invisible Army**_

_**Aiutante Notte - Night's Helper**_


	5. Radios Ramble in Washington DC

America used to like hanging out with the Italian dudes.

They were cool, funny, and though they where kind of cowardly when in war they sure weren't shy in peace, but best of all, even though they were much, MUCH older then he was, they never held it above him.

And now that he thought about it, they were actually around the same ago as England, probably way older. Holy shit.

And now that he realizes that South Italy is probably one of the oldest countries he knows, he was born around 272 B.C. if his historians are right. He's pretty much only younger then Japan and China, and now that America realized that is immensely freaked out about his fate.

Is he doomed to either be a shut-in otaku or a feminine old guy?

Anyways, back to the memories.

It all began with a pair of boots...

* * *

_The blonde country sighed, wondering why his boss sent him, the United States of America, to pick up a pair of leather boots that his boss had ordered a few days before for God knows what reason. And guess where he had to go to pick them up?_

_I-freaking-taly._

_Why they couldn't have just been shipped to Washington was beyond him._

_America looked down at the box in his hand with a small glare. "You're giving me more trouble then your worth, just be glad I heroically decided to do it." He stated, sighing slightly. All the sudden a faint crack that sounded like bones breaking, followed a loud cry rang through the quite evening._

_"Misericordia, per favore abbi pietà di me!" A voice cried out, only for a gunshot to sound and another loud scream to disrupt the calm._

_"Huh?" America wondered aloud, not having fully realized what was going on quite yet._

_Then, it sunk in that there was some guy probably being beaten up just a few feet away from the him, and the hero was just standing there._

_He immediately straightened up like someone had just pulled Nantuket, and switched into stealth mode. Keeping close to the ground, he started to make his way towards the screams._

_After all, what kind of a hero would he be if he let this go?!_

_Mentally humming the Mission: Impossible theme song, he found the source of the screams quickly; a small alleyway just off the road he had been walking on._

_Of course, he thought, how didn't I see it before! The bad guys are always in the alleys!_

_But when he found an appropriate hiding place (a well hidden spot on a rooftop) and stuck out his head a little bit to get a glimpse of what he was up against, he was absolutely shocked with what he saw._

_Italy was standing near the end of the alleyway (which he silently noted was a dead end) the northern half holding several bloody knives while the south held a smoking gun. The source of the blood was between them sprawled out on the ground, resembling one of the hamburgers the country loved so dearly instead of a breathing human being. The man didn't seem to be breathing._

_In disbelief, America watched the scene in silence._

_"Eh, questo è quello che ottiene di essere un traditore della famiglia." South Italy (America found that using North and South seemed much more respectful than simply calling one of them Italy and ignoring the other half.) said snidely, kicking the now clearly deceased man in the side._

_The blondes brain numbly translated it to "Eh, that's what he gets for being a traitor to the family."_

_"Ve! Fratello, possiamo andare a vedere se ci sono delle gelaterie aperte?" North asked innocently, starting to walk down the street. "Perché no! Il lavoro è andato bene, così abbiamo meritano una ricopensa." His brother replied, following him._

_As they walked away, North threw more knives into the limp body a few more times without even turning around. When his brother looked at him curiously, he just shrugged. "Meglio andare sul sicuro allora mi dispiace, Boss."_

_And with a whack on the head and a "don't call me that" from South, the two of them faded into the night._

_America sat on that rooftop for the longest time in a stunned state. Suddenly, he remembered something._

_"Dammit, I forgot the shoebox! And I didn't even get to be a hero!"_

* * *

_Misericordia, per favore abbi pietà di me! - Mercy, please have mercy on me!_

_Ve! Fratello, possiamo andare a vedere se ci sono delle gelaterie aperte? - Ve! Brother, can we go see it any gelato shops are open?_

_Perché no! Il lavoro è andato bene, così abbiamo meritano una ricopensa. - Why not! The job went well, so we deserve a reward._

_Meglio andare sul sicuro allora mi dispiace, Boss. - Better safe then sorry, Boss._


	6. They Hear It All

Romano was quite proud of himself, and his little brother too of course.

For the past few years, they had successfully emerged themselves into the greater Italian Underworld as Lovino and Feliciano Vargas, the twins brothers that were at the spear head of the mafia world.

But to the heads of the families, they were Italy Veneiziano and Italy Romano, the nation that could destroy everything that they had worked for. But at the same time, they were also the nation that protected them from exposure, the nation that kept an uneasy peace between the families, and the nation thatwould find and kill any traitor to any family without hesitation.

And the other countries didn't even realize it.

Sure, Romano knew that a few had suspicions, but honestly, who'd guess that this is what was really going on?

And even if someone did find out, who'd believe them if they said that the weak, cowardly Italy brothers were crime lords that killed dozens of their citizens?

Romano shook his head in slight, twisted awe. If someone had told him ten years ago that he and his brothers would murder their own people without remorse, work against their own government, and that they'd be called "The Hands of the Devil", he would've called the, fucking insane.

Yet, here they were.

"Oi Capo, dobbiamo andare a incontrare il signor Giovanni e il signor Saccio per aiutare a risolvere la controversia prima che i poliziotti coinvolti, ve."(Oi boss, we have to go meet Mr. Giovanni and Mr. Saccio to help settle their dispute before the cops get involved, ve.) Veneziano called to his brother, startling him from his daze.

"Sì, sì. Ehi ti ho detto di non chiamarmi così fretellino! "(Ok, ok. Hey I told you not to call me that little brother!) Romano replied, frowning. "Sì, Capo."(Ok, Boss.) The other replied, giving him a cheeky grin.

"Maledetto moccioso."(Damn brat.) Romano huffed, but he was inwardly smiling as the energetic, self appointed right-hand man known as his brother dragged him towards their destination.

He may had not imagined having this life for his brother or himself, but now he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

**A Few Months Later**

"And that's why we should genetically engineer a giant super hero!" America closed, grinning expectantly at the other countries at the World Conference being hosted in Sicily. Just as England opened his mouth (presumably to rant angrily at the "heroic" country), the doors burst open and a man in dark dusty bloody suit ran in screaming something in Italian at the Italy brothers, who conveniently enough where seat right in front of the door.

The world barely had any time to react before another man ran in in the same state, only he had a gun and was aiming it at the other intruder.

But Romano and Feliciano stood up from their chairs as the rest of the countries froze.

And they very calmly ignored Spain and Germany's worried cries as they took out twin guns from their coats.

And the man with the gun paled dramatically as he spied the brothers.

And the brothers aimed at the man.

And Romano said "Signor Giovanni, you broke the truce." and the brothers shot.

And they hit dead on, and the man went down.

And silence fell on the room, broken only by the still living intruders cries of thanks to the brothers.

"WHAT IN HELL IS GOING ON?!" Germany screamed, leaping from his chair to the two along with Spain, but the brothers simply ignored them and stayed silent.

They knew that their time of secrecy was now over, but it was something that they knew would happen eventually.

But, they where surprised they weren't discovered after Italy Veneziano accidentally gave Germany a bouquet with shotguns hidden in the roses for Valentines Day.

* * *

_**Eh heh heh *rubs back of head sheepishly*.**_

_**I'm so awful, I apologize for taking so long to add the last part. Worse is I actually have absolutely no excuse.**_

_**At some point, someone sent me actual (what I assume to be correct) Italian translations, and I thought to myself "Oh, cool! I'll put those up tomorrow!", and then I forgot, and now they're in the depths of my email folder. Thank you so much for that, whoever you are.**_

_**See ya at my next story!**_

_**~Sparrow**_

_**P.S. Oh ya, I vaguely remember someone asking about how I said that's it's not a mafia AU? I mean that I imagine this happening in the canon universe, not an actual mafia/human AU. Sorry if you still don't get it, but that's how I see it.**_


End file.
